The Zone of Interest

The film opens on a black screen with a dark crimson spot. In 1943, Rudolf Höss, commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp, lives with his wife Hedwig and their five children in an idyllic home next to the camp. Höss takes the children out to swim and fish, and Hedwig spends time tending the garden. Camp prisoners handle the chores, and the deportees' belongings are given to the family. Beyond the garden wall, gunshots, shouting, and sounds of trains and furnaces are audible.